Edward Weston

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Oct 7, 2013

I have various questions about Edward Weston.

Is there any knowledge how he made his california era photographs. Did he use zone system ?

Is it possible to take same tones with todays material ? Is there a recipe for his platin papers ? Did anyone researched it and published his her findings ?

Which film, developer , paper combination is accepted to closest his material ?

Umut

payral · Oct 7, 2013

May be you should read some Weston bio as Daybooks of Edward Weston and ask his grandson Kim still working at Wild Cat Hill.
No recipe for his platinum paper as it was industrial made paper and sold as argentic paper today.

JamesMorris · Oct 7, 2013

The closest current materials to his would be ABC Pyro, FP4+ (arguably), Lodima paper, and Amidol.

He used ABC Pyro and Amidol. If he was around today doing the same kind of work, he may choose Pyrocat HD and Tmax 400 instead of those, for practical reasons.

markbarendt · Oct 7, 2013

Mustafa a bit more searching here at APUG or via google can probably get you a good chunk of what you are asking for.

Here's a link to a one citation. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Here's the link to the whole thread. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Weston's general philosophy about judgement is important IMO. Meters just give us reference points, nothing more, we have to decide what to do with that info.

Gerald C Koch · Oct 7, 2013

Weston had his own recipe for an amidol print developer for papers. The formula may be found on the Unblinking Eye web site.

Jim Noel · Oct 7, 2013

His Daybooks often refer to exposure. According to his son Cole, he didn't have a meter until his later years, and then rarely used it. He was from the era of "expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights."
He gave very full exposure and developed by inspection in his version of ABC Pyro. The negatives are very dense by today's standards as they were meant for contact printing only. He never owned an enlarger.

Alan Klein · Oct 7, 2013

Ahhh, if I could find the magic elixir to produce really wondrous photographs.

Chris Livsey · Oct 8, 2013

Alan Klein said:
Ahhh, if I could find the magic elixir to produce really wondrous photographs.

And then write it all down so everyone else could do exactly the same

mrred · Oct 8, 2013

I would expect it actually has more to do with his skill than what he used.

Jim Noel · Oct 10, 2013

mrred said:
I would expect it actually has more to do with his skill than what he used.

ABSOLUTELY!

DREW WILEY · Oct 10, 2013

There are lots of anecdotes about his methodology by contemporaries. Some of the more interesting ones are by AA, who inevitably had to
contrast his own compartmentalized zone system to Weston's shrug of the shoulders voodoo approach, but really based upon experience and intuition. In the darkroom he was more of an alchemist than a chemist. Whatever worked. And there is some reason to believe that his habitual carelessness with pyro might have been what led to his Parkinson's disease. He never seemed obsessed with equipment. He couldn't afford to be.

lxdude · Oct 10, 2013

markbarendt said:
Mustafa a bit more searching here at APUG or via google can probably get you a good chunk of what you are asking for.

Here's a link to a one citation. (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Incidentally, the Weston Meter is mentioned in the link. Just for information- the Weston meter is named for Edward Weston, but he was a different Edward Weston-- not the famous photographer.

mesantacruz · Oct 11, 2013

Almost done with his Mexico daybooks, i swear, i can't finish it, because it makes me stop what i'm doing (reading) or have planned and go shoot. It's both funny and somewhat insightful, not on his technique, but on what makes a great photographer... practice, patience, and devoted. He was so poor, his wife sent him money, while he had his eldest son in Mexico, while being with his mistress (Tina).

Suffice it to say, his devotion paid off.

I cannot stress how many times he mentions making his best print to date.
He was always excited, and even through mistakes, he clearly learned, and devoted himself to a better negative next time. he made many rookie mistakes, ones that we can only appreciate from doing ourselves. His knowledge was learned a posteriori (learned through experience).

markbarendt · Oct 11, 2013

mesantacruz said:
I cannot stress how many times he mentions making his best print to date.

I know that feeling.

DREW WILEY · Oct 11, 2013

I've got one of those old Weston meters - a hand-me-down, and it still works, though I never use it. However, I can certainly visualize EW
pointing it one way then another, just as in the stories, scratching his head, and then basically winging it.

Merg Ross · Jan 2, 2014

Edward Weston died 56 years ago this morning in Carmel. I was with Brett that morning, and the remainder of the day, while he was at our home in Berkeley. I had been photographing for about five years at the time, and had the wonderful experience of sharing my photographs with Edward. It was a sad day, but one I reflect upon at each passing anniversary. Thank you, father and son, for enriching my life, and those of so many others.

Merg

DREW WILEY · Jan 2, 2014

Thanks for sharing that, Merg. Other than a note from Brett long ago, I had no personal contact with the clan, but learned a lot of things from
a mutual family friend. I'd stick around Carmel just long enough for my official openings, then head off down the coast for shooting, or was with family, still in the area. Never much of one to hobnob with the cheese n' wine crowd. But at least I got a lot of exposure to real prints by both
EW and BW from an early age - long before I saw anything by AA, so that made quite an impression on me. Probably nobody in photo history
will be able to fill exactly the respective niches those two did, and it's even more remarkable that such different styles could arise in the same
family.

Black Dog · Jan 2, 2014

Thanks from me too-EW is still my favourite, especially the later pictures of Point Lobos.

Edward Weston

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